Thursday, September 22, 2016

Nero Fiddles

Our congress does nothing and it is infuriating. This pubic whining passes for "action".

Above we have the story of Congress and the EpiPen. The Epi-Pen is a lifesaving device for people with deadly allergies.

Now the CEO is the daughter of a US Senator. In the five years she has taken over, she raised the price of the life -saving device from $100 to $600. It's out of patent, but Congress (where her father sits) and the FDA will not approve any generics.

Her mother used her position at the National Associate of State Boards of Education to require schools across America to purchase and stock EpiPens - where her daughter was the CEO of the only company that makes the EpiPens AND that raised their prices 6 fold (USA Today LINK).

The company is doing fine, by the by. Five executives have made over $300 Million dollars EACH during this.

During the Congressional "grilling" CEO Heather Bresch didn't even have the good grace to appear contrite.

The company said they only made $50 per per. But then, after pressure, they released a second "generic" for only $300.

So, there isn't even a hand-slap for this outrage. She has to sit and be yelled at for 1 afternoon. For that she makes $5,769.23 an hour (not including her multimillion dollar bonus). Or $96 a minute for smirking at us.

Congress yelled at the CEO of Wells Fargo this week too. The company signed up consumers for extra products and charged them. Now they were fined (not by Congress but by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Comptroller of the US and the City of Los Angeles) $185 Million for this (link). There profits rose $20,000 Million (or $20 billion).

Congress brought them in and yelled at him. The CEO took "full responsibility" but isn't quitting, reducing his pay nor firing any senior managers.

The Republicans in Congress are taking action here. They have introduced legislation to disband the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. really.

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So I get hatred at Congress and the way things are. If Trump promised to waterboard the Wells Fargo CEO, the Mylan CEO and that shit Martin Shkreli - I'd vote for him.